A. J. Raffles
Arthur Justice Raffles was born in 1863, and died (?) in 1900. He was a prominent cricketer and a notorious burglar. Early Life Raffles went to a small Public School in 1880, where he first met his future colleague, Harry "Bunny" Manders, when he fagged for him. Inspired by the unusually large amount of burglaries that went on in the area, Raffles would go on nocturnal trips to infiltrate various pubs etc. Although not going as far as actual theft, he did manage to learn the basics of going about under the cover of night, and it was here that the bond between Bunny and Raffles was cemented- Bunny would wait by the window for hours at a time with a rope, in order to help him up and into the room. Raffles first taste of burglary came in 1882, when he was particularly poor. He had gone to his uncles- a certain W. F. Raffles- was a prominent banker, and Arthur travelled there in order to ask for money. However, he was mistaken for the banker, and therefore took the chance to steal money from the vault and make good his escape. This succeeded, but it gave him his first taste of crime. Career with Bunny In 1891, when Bunny was particularly poor, he appealed to Raffles to help him out. The gentleman thief immediately saw the upshot of a partner in crime, and they joined up, there first conquest being a jeweller's shop, where Bunny proved invaluable. Over the next few years- up to 1895, in fact- they became notorious with Scotland Yard and other members of the criminal profession, being recognised as heads of their field. In 1895, however, when the two were attempting to steal a pearl on a cruise ship, they were caught. Raffles managed to escape by jumping over the side and swimming the ten miles to Elba, but Bunny was arrested trying to stop the policeman. He served two years in prison. In the end, the penitent thief, hair white from his anxieties, gave his life in the service of his country during the Boer War, as a final act of redemption. Sources A.J. Raffles was created by author and poet E.W. Hornung, himself (rather appropriately) the brother-in-law of Arthur Conan Doyle. He first appeared in the 1899 short story collection ''The Amateur Cracksman, ''going on to appear in ''The Black Mask ''(1901), where he was killed off in the Boer War. Avoiding a Holmes-like return from the dead, future collections ''A Thief in the Night ''(1904) and the poorly received novel ''Mr Justice Raffles ''(1909) merely filled in the gaps of the story. Hornung also wrote two plays surrounding the character; one, ''Raffles the Amateur Cracksman ''(1903), was in collaboration with Eugene W. Presbury, while ''A Visit from Raffles ''(1909) was co-written with Charles Sanson. Other authors who have written about Raffles include Barry Perowne, who from 1932 to 1979 wrote a series of novels starring the character that were moderately well received. Graham Greene wrote a comic play called ''The Return of A.J. Raffles ''(1975), making explicit the homosexual subtext of the character through a digression featuring Oscar Wilde. Peter Tremayne, meanwhile, wrote a similarly-titled novel called ''The Return of Raffles ''(1981); both the Greene and Tremayne additions explained his return from the dead. Raffles' career in film and television begins with Holger Madsen, who played Raffles in the Danish film ''Sherlock Holmes ''in 1908. John Barrymore appeared as Raffles in a 1917 silent film, while other versions were played by Ronald Colman in 1930 and David Niven in 1940. Two radio series, one in the 1940s and one beginning in 1985, featured Frank Allenby and Jeremy Clyde respectively. One of the most superior, however, is Anthony Valentine, who plays Raffles brilliantly in the thirteen episode series ''Raffles ''(1975-1977). In comparison, the 2001 TV film ''The Gentleman Thief ''starring Nigel Havers seems mediocre. See Also *Bunny Manders Category:People Category:Pages Category:Rogue's Gallery Category:E.W. Hornung